Betrayal

Chapter 5

All participants of the hastily put together peace talk were nervous because in truth a shred of hope remained. One of only two carefully placed Black Swan operatives within the Neverseen would be attending this meeting undercover and even they had expressed doubt at Sophie's presence at a meeting like this.

Keefe was a mess, he ran his hands through his hair over and over, he bounced his knee with an excessive tapping sound until Biana couldn't stand it anymore and placed her hand on his forearm frustrated.
"We've got this in the bag, the informant said he has information capable of taking down the Neverseen. So please for the sake of my sanity sit still Keefe!" Biana groaned and the others nodded their similar sentiments.
"You know that's not what this is about." he shot back with a cold glare, enough for Biana to retract her hand back swiftly. Keefe's eyes which had once held so much warmth despite their color were now devoid of kindness and humor. This dramatic change had happened a month after Sophie's "disappearance" or so the council chose to call it. Fitz, Dex, and Biana all held anger towards Sophie for her decision but Keefe having heard the emotional cards Fintan had pulled in his "come to the dark side speech" knew better.
"I'm only being realistic Keefe, Sophie chose to betray us, we were winning. Hell, we had won!! Her reasons we're selfish and to be frank she was driven by ambition." Biana snarled back and this time Dex backed her up.
"Sophie chose her side and when the time comes we will decide then what to do about her." Dex's words sparked an old intense flame in Keefe's mind. A tendril of green inflicting energy curled off his hand like smoke, a bit of residual energy from the mental dam put up to block the tidal wave of emotions he used to inflict on people. But as the doors groaned on their ancient hinges the tendril vanished as everyone rose in greeting to their guests.

Keefe's eyes darted to the faces of every Neverseen member that walked through the huge double doors but that spark of emotion he felt was quickly squashed when none of the faces matched the one etched into his heart. Fintan lead the group dressed in flowing red robes with gold accents. The black robes of the Neverseen were absent from high ranking members who instead wore robes with a color corresponding to their ability and rank. One wore blue robes with bronze accents signifying them as a telepath and a second-tier member. Fintan wore gold accents but it made Keefe wonder if Sophie enjoyed the same luxury as her father.

Their carefully concealed spy wore the same old black robes of an average Neverseen member, cleverly concealed where attention would be drawn the least. The talks had begun and the council was talking but Keefe wasn't listening. she didn't come he thought sadly, wilting like a flower in the baking heat. He sat absently for almost twenty minutes but it felt like only a few seconds until they heard the clash of blades and thumping coming from outside the door. All eyes immediately went to the massive things, bodyguards drew weapons and people with abilities helpful in a fight fired them up. The two parties began bickering about an ambush planted by the other but everyone shut up when the door opened and a familiar blonde swept in, a vision dressed in white with silver accents.

"You left without me." she said as she swiftly crossed the room and took a seat next to Fintan pretending to be completely uninterested in her former family and enthralled by the Neverseen but her gaze swiftly drifted over her friends and staggered briefly on Keefe but then regained its uninterested quality. But Keefe could see the hints of panic in her eyes.
The stories were wrong Sophie was no monster, just an actress playing a role and one she was close to completing from the look of panic Keefe had just seen.
She was still his Sophie.